2. Pelé Won Two FIFA World Cups, Not Three

People always ask me: "When is the new Pele going to be born?" Never. My father and mother have closed the factory. When Messi's scored 1,283 goals like me, when he's won three World Cups, we'll talk about it.

Messi needs to reach 758 goals instead of 1,284 and needs to win two FIFA World Cups instead of three.

Pelé was a member of three World Cup-winning teams, but he sat out the large majority of the 1962 World Cup.

It was Garrincha who singlehandedly won the World Cup for Brazil, not Pelé.

1. Pelé Played with Historic Teammates

(Image via blogs.diariodepernambuco.com.br)

When Pelé compiled his 125 greatest living footballers list, he didn't include many of his teammates.

Regarding the teammates that made the cut: There are two of the greatest right-backs ever in Carlos Alberto and Djalma Santos. Then there is one of the greatest left-backs ever in Nílton Santos. Also a marvelous midfielder in Rivelino.

Here are Pelé's teammates who were ineligible for his list: Garrincha (inspired Brazil to win the 1962 FIFA World Cup), Vavá (scored three goals in two World Cup finals) and Didi (1958 World Cup Golden Ball winner).

I read into the omissions as Pelé's way of downplaying his teammate's role in his success.

I would have liked to see Pelé symbolically include Santos strike partner Coutinho on the list as a way of saying thank you. After all, they did supposedly combine for over 1,000 goals.

I'll never forget what Gérson, who was Pelé's Xavi, said this about his role in that legendary 1970 World Cup team:

Now the interesting thing is this, as incredible as it might seem, I prefer a thousand times over to make the pass, rather than to score the goal. For me this was the glory because this is what I was trained for.

It was disgraceful that Pelé forgot about the thousands of passes Gérson made.